Business or personal? The murky world of travel expenses

Commuting for work often involves juggling professional responsibilities and personal time, making it difficult to draw a clear line between business and personal travel. However, understanding this distinction is crucial. Let’s take a moment to clarify the matter once and for all.

In general, expenses for travelling between home and work aren’t deductible. But, if you meet specific conditions, you might be able to claim your home-to-work travel, like in the following cases: 

• Home as Central Base: If your home is genuinely a central place of business, travel during work may be deductible. 

• Being On Call: If you're genuinely on call and give medical instructions over the phone before leaving home, you may be able to claim this travel. 

• Employment-Related Tasks During Travel: Travel that involves performing duties related to your job can also be deductible. 

• Transporting Heavy Equipment: If you’re required to carry bulky equipment to various locations – including taking it home – this may be deductible when there’s a good reason, like no storage available at work. 

What Travel Expenses Are Deductible? 

In general, expenses you incur in the course of your work are deductible. Here are a few situations where travel expenses might be claimed: 

• House Calls: Traveling from a surgery to a patient’s home and back to the surgery is deductible. 

• Directly Home After a House Call: If you make a house call from the surgery in the afternoon and go directly home afterward, you can claim the entire journey. 

• Multiple Stops: If you travel from home to a hospital or patient’s house before going on to the surgery, the whole journey is deductible. 

• Work-Related Conferences and Education: Travel expenses for work-related seminars, conferences, and continuing education are deductible, so long as the primary purpose of the trip is work-related. 

Golden Rules for Motor Vehicle Deductions in 2025 

1. Understand deductible travel. 
2. Keep a logbook to track work-related travel.
3. Be mindful of the depreciation cost limit (including the luxury car tax limit). 
4. Retain receipts for all expenses. 

Keeping track of expenses is simpler with logbook apps. The ATO-recommended app, Driversnote, is a handy tool for automated trip logging. 

Don’t Forget About the Hybrid Vehicle Changes! 

Here’s an important update: From April 1, 2025, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will no longer qualify as low or zero-emission vehicles under FBT law. This means they won’t be eligible for the current FBT exemption moving forward. However, if you purchase or lease a PHEV before April 1, 2025, you can keep claiming the exemption—as long as you have a binding commitment to use the vehicle beyond that date. If a hybrid is on your list, now’s the time! 

If you have questions or need guidance, feel free to reach out to a member of our Specialist Medical Services team.